Horror Month 2016 Day 2: Rec

My parents were always strict on film ratings when I was a child so when I was old enough to find movies for myself I had undone every string they tried to tie together in an attempt to stop me seeing scary movies.

By the time I was 18 I had seen most of the classics, along with several foreign and B horrors thrown in and Rec was one of them. I had been introduced to it by one of my dearest friends and I always have him to thank for helping me widen my horror viewing counts.

I first watched Rec when I was already a fan of the Spanish language but hadn’t had a lot of experience with Spanish or world cinema and I feel like being a fan of the language does help because even if you can’t understand a word, as long as you can stand reading the odd subtitle, you’re already winning.

The pace of Rec starts strong and fast and keeps your attention straight away. The acting, even for me as an English-speaking audience member who is used to Hollywood style, doesn’t waiver throughout the story and even though you could say Rec is a “zombie movie” of sorts, the acting is never cheesy or overdone as is so easily done in many a movie before its time.

The actual plot line of the story is convincing and the make up effects really add to the realism the whole way through. If you’re expecting a film heavy on action and scares, Rec has you covered; yet if you are expecting a good plot line with plenty of twists and turns, Rec has you covered there too! It’s a fantastically made movie, especially for its relatively low budget of reportedly $2m, and deserves to be seen by all who dare.

Kirsty Caldwell is a Film Studies graduate and aspiring photographer from Northern Ireland. Her main passions include horror films, Disney and her cat, Albus (follow #albythekitten on instagram for more).